Process for preparing circular letters



Feb. 16, 1932. Q B, BERGERSEN 1,845,120

PROCESS FOR PREPARINGIGIRCULAR LETTERS briginal Filed oct. 19, 1928 O INVENTOR U 05e efperen' a ATTORNEYS,

Patented Feb. 16, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENTor-Flca OLE B. BERGERSEN, or yNEW YORK, lit. Y.

PROCESS FOR PREPARING CIRCULAR LETTERS Application flied oeteber 19, 192s, serieu No. 313,484.' Renewed December 31,` 1931.

My present invention is concerned with methods of producing form letters in which the printed body of a letter and the typewritten filler are substantially identical in appearance and a completely typewritten letter is accurately simulated.

lOne of the most intangible and yet detectable distinctions between a printed letter Y and a typewritten letter is that in the typeio written letter the human factor of touch is involved and there are slight di'erences in the pressure which` is rexerted on the keys in typing thev dierent' characters.V In press printing from type, however, pressure is applied with mechanical uniformity and such differences do notV appear, even when the printing is performed through an inked rib-- bon to produce the impression of the weave. It' is accordingly-an object of the invention 520 to provide a method for preparing a. circular letter which accurately simulates the appearance of a typewritten letter, not only by reproducing the impression of ribbon weave characteristic of typewritten letters but in addition by simula-ting the variations in touch inevitable in ordinary typing copy.

Another object is to provide a method of the above character Yinvolving the use of e standard apparatus, and which will permit the production ofthe form letters in rare and unusual type-styles without tne substantial eXpense for the special dies needed to produce such type on a linotype or monotype machine.

printing through the ribbon of the original typewritting machine or any other machine having type which corresponds lto the body ofthe letter. V l The step of the process which involves typing the original positive sheet will produce a printing plate in which the variations of touch appear and the method is inherently capable ,ofkproducingi more realistic simula-k tion of typewriting in the final printed prot uct than where the original set-up is made on a linotype or monotype machine. I

" lVhile my method may be executed with the use of any of a variety of typewriting i machines to produce the pattern or matrix, it is preferably carried out with' a machine having .a special ornamental type. Preferably the so-called varitypei is employed,

since in one typewriting machine it affords the possibility ofselecting letters of any of a wide variety of ornamental and odd character.

The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Y

Fig. lis a perspective view of one form of typewriter which may be used in the process, sliowingvthe first step ofthe process being carried out.

Fig. 2 is an enlargedl perspective view of the shuttle or yrotary bed of the typewriter shown in Fig.' 1.

Fig. 3 is a' plan view of the photo-engraved u printing plate and Fig. e is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner By my process the body of the letter is typed through carbon paper, thereby producing sharp, clean, solid characters on the original sheet, which sheet may be of smoothin which the bodies of the` letrters are printed from the plate.

surfaced paper, sheet-metal, wax-coated or impregnated paper, cloth or any other suit,- able material. The characters on the pattern will, however, vary slightly in thickness due to the slight variations in the touch of the typist. A negative printing plate is made from the original sheet by photo-engraving and is likewise characterized by sharp, clear, solid type, reproducing the slight variations in the thickness of the characters on the pattern. For rotary press work, it will be apparent that an appropriate electrotype may be made from the photoengraved plate. The form letters are printed by the negative photo-engraved plate or from the electrotype through an inked ribbon or web, so that the impressions of the ribbon weave appear on the letters, as though these had been individually typed, and the eifects of variations in the touch of the typist are faithfully reproduced in the final product from the printing plate on which these variations appear. The final fill-in of salutation or similar individual items may be typed in on the original machine from which the carbon matrix was made, this time through a ribbon instead of through a carbon sheet. The telltale differentiation will thus be eliminated between mechanical regularity of the body of the letter and variability in the characters of the salutation. Both body and salutation will have the same variability characteristic of the human touch and the letter will be indistinguishable even to the expert eye from one that had been individually typed.

In carrying out the method in its broadest aspects, as thus far described, any typewriting machine may be employed, though one having specialized ornamental type is preferred. The method is especially advantageous, however, when used in connection with the well-known varityper. This machine is indicated generally at 10 in Fig. 1 and has a multiplicity of interchangeable rotary shuttles 11 carrying various rare and distinctive fonts of type 12. Thus a single varityper machine permits the production of a carbon printed original sheet with any of a Wide variety of type of distinctive beauty or oddness. The variety of type fonts which is carried by the varityper will not be found in the ordinary linot'vpe machine nor in ordinary typewriting machines. Shuttles may be used with the varityper if desired for producing a matrix with specialized type other than those used on such machines. The use of the varityper shuttles provides special type without the cost of producing a correspending linotype set-up, which is frequently too great, particularly where only small quantities of form letters are desired.

In Fig. 1 the original sheet 13 is shown in position, and over it the carbon sheet 14 through which the printing impressions are transferred to the sheet 13. In Fig. 3

, Iplgave shown the lieto-engraved negative produced rom the sheet 13, and in Fig. 3 I have shown the letter printing operation being carried out.

Fig. 4 is an extremely diagrammatic view of a familiar type of printing press. In this view the paper supporting bed is indicated at 16. The platen 17 carries the photo-engraved plate 15 and prints through an inked ribbon 19, the feed mechanism of which includes a feeding ratchet 2() operated by arm 21 and chain 22 from a movable element 23 of the press.

In connection with the process described above, it may be noted that the original sheet which is produced by typing through carbon is a positive sheet, that the letters are reversed on the negative printing plate and again appear correctly on the positive final form letter. If the original sheet were negative an additional process step would be necessary.

It will thus be seen that there is herein described a method in which the several features of this invention are embodied, and which method attains the various objects of the invention and is well suited to meet the requirements of practical use.

As many changes could be made inthe above method, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter Contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A method of producing printed form letters in substantially indistinguishable simulation of typewritten letters which includes the steps of making an original pattern sheet having sharp, solid characters thereon by typing such sheet through a sheet of carbon paper, thus producing impressions having variations in touch characteristic of the work of typists, then photographically reproducing the pattern sheet on a printing plate, then printing the form letters from the plate through an inked ribbon.

2. A method ot producing form letters by typing the body of the letter through a sheet of carbon paper, thus producing impressions having variations in touch characteristic of the work of typists making a printing plate from the pattern sheet thus produced by a photo-engraving process, then printing the bodies of the form letters from the printing plate through an inked ribbon.

3. A method of producing partially printed form letters in substantially indistinguishable simulation of completely typewritten letters which are characterized by unusual type styles which includes the ste of making an original pattern sheet having sharp, solid characters thereon b typing such sheet through a sheetl of car on paper on a typewriting machine embodying replaceable shuttles with characteristic type, then making a printing plate from the at-- tern sheet by a photo-engraving process, t en printing the body of the form letters from the plate through an inked ribbon, then filling in the headings of the letters by typing through a ribbon on the ysaine or a similar typewrting machine in which the carbon matrix was prepared.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 16th day of October, A. D. 1928.

OLE B. BERGrERSEN.L 

